Creative Analysis - Using words as tools for thought
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The foundation of the creative analysis model was developed by Dr. Albert William Upton (1897-1986). He was known as a brilliant professor with one of the finest minds. Influenced by the work of C.K. Ogden and Ivor A. Richards (1923) “The meaning of meaning”, a textbook that has been used in many fields including linguistics, philosophy, language, cognitive science and semantics, Upton developed a curriculum experiment in 1960 for college freshmen. Through this experiment, he was able to prove that the IQ of the students can be raised considerably by teaching them a deep course in semantics and analytical thinking skills (Hechinger, F.M., June 27, 1960). Instead of the typical freshman English composition curriculum, he encouraged his students to take the language apart and analyze the words rigorously.
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One of the super coaches in Upton’s experiment, Richard Samson, who enrolled at Whittier in 1958, played a key role in the future development of Upton’s method. With Upton’s encouragement, Samson created intellectual exercises for each of the various analytical processes (Samson, R.W. 1975). In 1961, the course-work called “Graded Exercises in Analysis” was published with the title “Creative Analysis” by a press set up at Whittier College and republished by E.P. Dutton in 1963. Although Samson had graduated from Whittier in 1960, he decided to stay on as a research assistant with Upton to help further translate the Upton Methods into more easily understood concepts (Samson, R.W. 1975). The result was another book published by E.P Dutton in 1965 called “The Mind Builder”.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/richard-w-samson/the-mind-builder/
This "Self-Teaching Guide to Creative Thinking and Analysis" is a high-minded and demanding--and exciting-- foray into the constructive science of language, with the word as means to the extension of meaning. The aim here is to "heighten conscious control of the patterns of thought most of us use more or less intuitively. "The text explores and analyzes the role of words in thing-making, qualification, classification, etc.; shows how ambiguity can lead to meaning changes and growth. Exercises based on these aspects of verbal action follow, ranging from very easy to very difficult; answers are given. The process of learning is based on the efficacy of Professor Albert Upton's 1960 experiment which by raising I.Q.s of students by ten points in one school year, gave evidence that the study of the relation between words and meaning could improve thinking. Some of the material here is directly applicable to such tests. But, for those willing and able to follow the steps in thought laid out here, it is the aspect of general problem solving through higher conceptualization that may be the goal.
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